Future police officers trained to better understand disability hate crime

Future police officers are being trained to better understand disability hate crime through a unique partnership between Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and Dimensions.

Dimensions, a leading not-for-profit organisation supporting people with learning disabilities and autism, has partnered with NTU as part of its #ImWithSam campaign to tackle autism and learning disability hate crime.

Introducing Sam

To raise awareness of this issue, Dimensions created Sam, a fictional character to represent people who have experienced autism and learning disability hate crime. Dimensions also worked with people with lived experience, as well as multiple partners across the sector.

Following successful training within a police force, Dimensions made its learning disability and autism hate crime e-learning available online and free for all police colleagues.

As part of this, Dimensions has delivered the training in-person and online to NTU Professional Policing students to help those entering the police force to better understand this type of hate crime and communicate with people with learning disabilities and autism.

Dimensions will also be working with the University’s Criminology and Policing department to develop materials for lecturers, which will encourage them co-host sessions alongside people with lived experience of learning disability and autism hate crime.

“Hidden disability and Neuro Diversity are critical conditions that affect and impact upon modern policing. The work we have done with Dimensions in order to raise our future police officer’s awareness of these issues is crucial to those officers providing a better service to victims, witnesses and suspects who may have such a condition. By raising their awareness and giving them information about these conditions, those future officers will have a greater understanding, and be able to provide a better and more considerate service to the public.”

Martin Tangen, course leader BA Professional Policing at NTU

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